for your nutritional and emotional well being

DIY Party Ideas

So you could say that I have gone DIY CrAzY!! I just got my Amazon order today with glass spray bottles and then some other ingredients that I needed for upcoming projects!

Today, I made a Granite Kitchen Counter Cleaner! I have bought so many different brands and they really only waxed over everything… it never looked or felt clean. So I decided I was going to create my own natural cleaner. I did some research online and found a couple of recipes, but ultimately I knew I wanted to make my own!

All of the ingredients are in the pic above and it literally took less than 5 minutes to make it!

First, you will need castile soap, which is an unscented vegetable based soap. You can find it at health food stores or online (Amazon). You only need a couple of tablespoons for this recipe so the castile soap goes a long way! Next you will need either rubbing alcohol or 80 proof vodka (I just happened to have some Absolute Vanilla Vodka on hand), and distilled water (or boiled tap water then cooled), and the final ingredient is lavender essential oil.

I love that this recipe has castile soap because it actually cleans the granite counter tops. The alcohol helps to dry quickly, and you should use distilled water if possible so that it will have a longer shelf life. Regular tap water can be boiled to kill bacteria. I use lavender essential oil because I love the smell of lavender and it’s very calming, but you can use any essential oil that you prefer. Just don’t use a citrus essential oil with a Granite Cleaner because citrus can eat through the granite.

Distilled Water or boiled and then cooled tap or spring water – 2 cups

Directions:

First you will need either a glass spray bottle or a thick plastic spray bottle (warning essential oils should not be used with thin plastic bottles – like water bottles, since it can penetrate the plastic and pull out toxins into the water. I purchased my glass spray bottles from Amazon, but you can re-use a spray bottle that you already have or an empty glass bottle and put a spray top on it.

Then fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water. Make sure to leave some room at the top just in case you want to add more essential oil!

Loving my Granite Kitchen Counter Spray! This spray is not just for granite counter tops! You can use it on other surfaces too! The reason it works well on granite is because it doesn’t have vinegar or citrus oils which can both eat through granite.

Happy DIY Cleaning!

Interested in learning more about how to get started with essential oils? Contact me, Nicole Wehner @ gozenent@gmail.com

For a while now, I have been researching perfume oil making with essential oils and wanting to try it! Over the past couple of years I have just not been happy with the Designer perfumes, just couldn’t find the right scent and my allergies and asthma would usually act up when I tried to wear commercial perfumes*.

So, I googled, and I googled and read up on the different notes that make up a perfume oil and the different scents that work together. There’s a lot of information out there!

I also looked at all of my oils to see which ones were best for making perfume oil. Some were costly, so I had to bear that in mind. When setting up my order I ended up going with some of the lesser expensive options, like cedarwood instead of sandlewood. Now of course, I wish I had both!!

The next thing I did, which is a big help in choosing which scents to go with is I looked up some of the notes of the perfumes that I have liked and worn in the past and that will really help you to decide on which essential oils to use!

If you search your favorite fragrance + notes you will get a make up of the perfume. Now, you may not have all of the specific oils that are referenced in the fragrance you like, but you will have a better idea as to what you like in terms of fruity, floral, sweet, woodsy, grassy, spicy. Then you can choose which oils match those that you like. For instance, I like fruity, floral, spicy, sweet and woodsy, so I would choose a couple of the fruity & floral oils as top notes and then a spicy and a sweet oil as middle notes and then a woodsy oil as a base note.

The top notes you will smell first but they will fade away the fastest (30 minutes or less). The middle notes will last a little longer and the base notes last the longest (a full day or more).

Remember, essential oils are very potent and a little bit goes a long way!

The next thing you want to consider is how big of a roller ball glass container you need. Amber color is the best choice since it will protect the oils, but I ended up going with the clear since this was for training purposes. If you are looking to save on the amount of oils you are going to use. Remember, your guests/students will need to test each oil, then use a 5ml roller ball glass container for each perfume. For a 5 ml roller ball container, you will need about 10-11 drops of your essential oils (1-3 drops each depending on the number of oils you use and their potency – if you have a stronger oil, then you want to use less drops than some of the fruity or floral oils that are not as strong so they don’t over power them). You want to put your base notes in first and swirl them around and sniff them, then add your middle notes and swirl and sniff and then your top notes and swirl and sniff – once you do that if you need to adjust by adding extra top notes if they are not coming through – you should smell those right away, then you can add a drop or two more. Remember also that the scent will change over time so you can always adjust by adding more, but it is harder to take away if you added too much! So remember that less is more!

For your party you will need:

Perfume Tester Strips (found these on amazon.com) – I think I ordered 100.

Pipettes (I ordered these on amazon.com) – Order a pack of 100

Roller balls bottles (get a few extra than you need just in case!)

A little note pad for each guest (so they can note down how many drops of each oil they used)

Make sure that you try this out yourself before you do your class! You will learn a lot just by doing it!

The first thing that I learned is that the oils smell VERY strong once you first drop it on the tester strip! This is not what your perfume oil will smell like once you are done. I suggest dropping a drop of each oil on a different tester strip (be sure to label each one so you remember what it is!) Do this an hour before your party starts. This way it will give the oil a chance to settle and it will not be as overpowering. Still it is important that you mention to everyone that this is the undiluted scent so it will smell stronger than their finished perfume oil.

I also texted everyone to ask them their top two favorite perfumes that they liked and I jotted down a few oils for each person so I could make some suggestions.

Once you’re ready to start, have each person pick up one top note tester strip and one middle note and one base note (hopefully from the oils you suggested) and have them smell it together to see if they like the combined scent. They can switch it up if it’s not pleasing to them until they find a combination they like.

Once they have decided on the oils they want to use.

Start with the base notes 1 drop of each (if using a 5ml bottle double that if using a 10ml bottle)

Swirl that around and sniff (adjust if needed)

Then add the middle notes 1-2 drops of each depending on their strength (for instance Cassia or Lavender are strong scents so you might only need 1 drop and ylang ylang is not as strong so you can use 2 drops)

Swirl and sniff (adjust if needed)

Then add the top notes (2-5 drops each depending on their strength)

Swirl and sniff (you should smell the top notes – if not add a drop or two more)

Ok, then you can add your fractioned coconut oil (or jojoba or sweet almond oil). Don’t fill it up all the way to the top. Leave a little room so you can shake it up.

Now rub the scent on your wrists. You will get an overwhelming scent of the top notes and some of the middle notes may come through as well. Definitely let your guests know that this scent will change in 30 minutes so let it sit for 10-20 minutes before you decide to change/add anything.

At the end of the day, perfume scents are a very personal thing! Not all scents fit all groups so it is good to have a variety for them to choose and try.

The great thing about making your own perfume oils with therapeutic essential oils is that you get the benefits of the oils as well as the beautiful fragrance!

This party idea had a great response rate! I invited 14 people and 10 people are coming!

*Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. None of the information on this blog is intended to cure, treat, or heal any disease. Please use essential oils at your own risk with lots of common sense and please consult your physician if you are under his/her care or if you are pregnant before using essential oils*